Great films and important guests at the Gran Paradiso Film Festival
Stories that can move, that touch an entire audience, that make it smile and dream, taking it to the other side of the planet and, at the same time, raising applauses: the films of the International Competition of the 19 Gran Paradiso Film Festival, at its fourth day, are the results of the work of directors coming from all over the world.
Great films and important guests too, that alternate during the events of De Rerum Natura, proposing reflections and stories with a mosaic of science, arts, show and Nature.
Alberto Piazza, President of the Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF – Torino), guided the audience on Tuesday afternoon in an excursus on the evolution of mankind.
«The path of the Homo Sapiens is scattered with technological and cultural innovations (the lythic industry, the use of fire, the oral and written communication, the use of metals, the invention of the wheel, the development of new sources of energy, the discovery of DNA, the use of Internet and the digital communication, the decoding of the whole human genome, etc) that took place in an increasingly swift rhythm» Professor Piazza stated. «The path is never going to come to an end, but the acceleration will grow, forging ahead an evolution whose time units will become increasingly small: between a generation and the following one the cultural changes will have paces so different that the passing down of values - particularly the most important - can be compromised. Are we able to adapt the pace? Today's challenge is to look at new generations pointing out the values that let us walk without surrendering to the awareness of seeing them quickly beaten and passed».
The problem of passing down values was also the starting point for Luciano Violante's speech, presenting to the copious public his book Il dovere di avere doveri (Einaudi editore, 2014).
Two rendez-vous livened up the afternoon of Wednesday. From the theme of nature took off the reflection carried out by Francesco Bonami, art critic and contemporary art curator, curator of the Fiftieth Biennial of Visual Arts of Venice in 2003, that took the audience in a journey across art, its meaning and its inspirations.
«Man creates art to console himself of not having created the world. Art is the consolation for that feeling of powerlessness and envy that the force of nature causes us» said Bonami during De Rerum Natura.
Work and economy were the topics of the debate with Luigi Bobba, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, interviewed by journalist Walter Passerini. Luigi Bobba showed to the audience of the Festival the main results of the Government and the future cruxes in the domain of labour and social policies.
New appointment with the artistic dimension today, with “Still life. The path as an aesthetic and moral practice”, with landscape architect Franco Zagari.
Following, a reflection on the encyclical Laudato si’ by Pope Francis proposed by Monsignor Franco Lovignana, theologian and Bishop of Aosta; Luciano Valle, philosopher and environmentalist, and by economist Nerio Nesi, President of the Camillo Cavour Foundation.
The Festival is organised by Fondation Grand Paradis in partnership with Valle d'Aosta Autonomous Region - Department of Tourism, Sport, Commerce and Transport; Giroparchi Project – PAR FAS Valle d’Aosta 2007/2013; Compagnia di San Paolo; Fondazione CRT; Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities; Gran Paradiso National Park; Municipality of Cogne; Federparchi; Office Régional du Tourisme; Municipality of Ceresole Reale; Municipality of Champorcher; Municipality of Rhêmes-Saint-Georges; Municipality of Villeneuve; Alpine Convention and Montura.